Read More

When looking into how they should approach it Sapochnik looked for an on-screen battle that lasted for a long time - at least as long as he planned his would.

The closest it turns out was Peter Jackson's LotR's battle as it comes in at 40 minutes long.

“It feels like the only way to really approach it properly is take every sequence and ask yourself: ‘Why would I care to keep watching?’” Sapochnick said. “One thing I found is the less action — the less fighting — you can have in a sequence, the better.”

He also spoke about the challenges they faced, one being where to focus the story. Before this point Jon Snow has been the centre of many of the major battles. This was much bigger.

“The [ GoT battles] I’ve done previously were generally from Jon’s perspective,” Sapochnik said. “Here I’ve got 20-some cast members and everyone would like it to be their scene. That’s complicated because I find the best battle sequences are when you have a strong point of view. I keep thinking: ‘Whose story am I telling right now?’”

David Benioff and Dan Weiss, the team behind the series, also decided to direct the final episode themselves.

Weiss said: "I’m hoping for the Breaking Bad [finale] argument where it’s like, ‘Is that an A or an A+?’”

“From the beginning we’ve talked about how the show would end," added Benioff. "A good story isn’t a good story if you have a bad ending. Of course we worry.”